Stem deflectors are utilized with crop harvesting machines such as combine harvesters. A combine harvester, or simply combine, is a machine that harvests grain crops. It combines into a single operation a process that previously required three separate operations (reaping, threshing, and winnowing). Among the crops harvested with a combine are wheat, oats, rye, barley, corn (maize), soybeans and flax (linseed). Combines are equipped with removable heads that are designed for particular crops.
Stem deflectors are units that mount to a rear of a combine head (for example, a corn head). A stem deflector bends over the remaining stem after the head has harvested the ear of corn, for example. Stem deflectors typically include springs that bias a shoe against the earth for bending or crushing the stems as the combine travels in a forward direction.
Stem deflectors typically mount to the rear of the combine head via a toolbar mounting system. In one current mounting configuration, the stem deflectors mount to a toolbar, connected to the head, by way of a mounting bracket. When the combine harvester is driven down highways, for example, the head must be detached from the combine and placed on a header trailer because a width of a typical head exceeds width restrictions for highway vehicles. When the head with the mounted stem deflectors is placed on a trailer, some of the stem deflectors invariably interfere with axles/tires of the trailer. Therefore, a user has to detach any interfering stem deflectors from the toolbar and store them away from the trailer axles/tires. This process of detaching interfering stem deflectors during transportation, and the subsequent re-mounting of the detached stem deflectors, is inconvenient and time consuming.
Exemplary embodiments of the disclosure address these and other problems, and offer other advantages over the prior art.